CHAPTER 257: TROUBLED HEART IN PARADISE

Chen Xueru struggled against him, but he held her tightly, as if he feared she would vanish if he let go. He was extremely anxious, ceaselessly comforting her back, calming her panic.

She knew, after all.

This was the one thing he absolutely did not want her to know, but she had found out anyway.

He should have been more vigilant. If he had known she was at the door, he wouldn’t have been so careless.

Chen Xueru felt an inexplicable chill in her body. Thinking of Zhao Yuning’s tearful face and her past accusations, Chen Xueru felt as if something had bitten her heart, not knowing what to do.

"Shuwen, is her child yours?" Chen Xueru asked. Her face was pale, and her eyes were calm as she slowly recovered from the shock. She looked at Tang Shuwen; though she had guessed, she wanted to hear his answer.

Tang Shuwen held her cold hand. "Most likely, Xueru. I’m sorry, but this was before I was with you. I didn’t know she would get pregnant. From the moment I decided to marry you... no, from the moment you and Xiao Nian appeared, once I knew of your existence, I haven’t been with her... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m truly sorry."

Chen Xueru’s eyes reddened. "No, no, no, you don’t need to apologize. This is all my fault, my mistake. If I hadn’t appeared, you would have married, you would have had children, and you would have been very happy. I would still be me, raising Xiao Nian, and both our families would be very happy. No one would have paid a price, no one would have died. Shuwen, it’s my fault you lost the person you love and now have to heartlessly abort your own child. This is all my fault. What about Zhao Yuning? Without a child, she will surely suffer greatly."

"Xueru, what are you saying?" Tang Shuwen gripped Chen Xueru’s shoulders, his voice deep. "This has nothing to do with you. Why are you taking all the blame? Didn’t you say that the suffering you endured was all caused by me, that everything was my fault?"

"It’s not like that." Chen Xueru covered her face, tears falling through her fingers. She was in immense pain. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, truly didn’t want to hurt anyone, nor did she want Zhao Yuning’s child to die. That wouldn’t be fair to Zhao Yuning.

She had never blamed Zhao Yuning, even though she had once cruelly tried to harm Xiao Nian. From Zhao Yuning’s perspective, it was indeed the appearance of Chen Xueru and her son that had destroyed her happiness.

Now, because of them, Tang Shuwen wanted to abort his own child. How could she bear it?

She had already inflicted enough pain on Zhao Yuning; how could she also allow her to lose her child? How could she find peace in her heart? How could she and Tang Shuwen be happy with a clear conscience?

She couldn’t do that.

Tang Shuwen held her tightly. "Don’t worry about this; leave it to me. Don’t think about anything else. Just stay by my side, alright? Do you hear me?"

By the end, his voice was a little urgent and stern. Chen Xueru’s tears streamed down her face; her heart was troubled.

"Tang Shuwen, please don’t make such a cruel decision, or you’ll regret it," Chen Xueru said softly, already in immense pain. She feared that one day he would regret it, resent her and Xiao Nian, because their presence caused him to reject his child with Zhao Yuning.

She understood that Tang Shuwen wanted to protect their family, which was why he was making such a cruel decision. Just now, she heard him tell Xiao Liu not to harm Zhao Yuning, only to remove the child. He still had feelings for Zhao Yuning, which was why he was so anxious.

Given that, he must also love this child in his heart.

After all, it was the child he carried with the woman he loved, yet he was heartlessly taking it away. She deeply understood that kind of agonizing pain.

Perhaps he didn’t regret it now, feeling content, but with time, he might regret his initial decision. Would he resent the existence of her and her son, feeling that they caused him to lose everything he once had?

She couldn’t bear Tang Shuwen’s resentment, nor could she bear a human life on her conscience.

"Xueru..."

"Don’t let her abort the child, Shuwen, don’t do this, it’s truly cruel." Chen Xueru pleaded. "The child is truly innocent. Since Zhao Yuning left, it means she wants to keep the child, so let her give birth. You have no right to decide a child’s life or death, and I don’t want you to kill someone because of us, especially your own child. I will have a guilty conscience for the rest of my life."

Tang Shuwen frowned, looking at Chen Xueru. Did she know what she was saying?

Could she truly be so magnanimous and not care?

Or was it that she simply didn’t love him, and therefore didn’t care about this child? Otherwise, she wouldn’t fail to understand how much impact this child’s birth would have on their family. Xueru...

For some reason, a slight anger arose in his heart.

"This is an unformed child. Do you know that this child is simply not suitable to be born? I won’t acknowledge him, I won’t love him. The Zhao family will use him as leverage to negotiate with me. Yu Ning might not even love him. Why should he live such a painful life? Aborting him now is the best option for him, Xueru, do you understand?" Tang Shuwen said in a deep voice. He had considered more, and more comprehensively. This child absolutely could not be kept. A child born without love would suffer greatly.

"How would you know if no one loves him?" Chen Xueru said. Parents would always love their children, no matter what kind of parents they were.

On this matter, Tang Shuwen and Chen Xueru each had their own ideas. It was not suitable to discuss these things late at night. Tang Shuwen held her shoulders and said in a deep voice, "Be good, let’s stop talking about this. It’s late. Why don’t you go take a bath and rest?"

Chen Xueru said tearfully, "Shuwen, please don’t make such a cruel decision, okay? Think about Xiao Nian. I’m afraid all this will come back to haunt Xiao Nian. Can you please think more about him?"

Tang Shuwen pursed his lips. "I will think about this carefully. You go take a bath and rest first."

Chen Xueru glanced at him, gritted her teeth, and left to take a bath.

After a day of playing and all this turmoil, she was indeed a bit tired.

But she felt no sleepiness at all. After showering, she stood on the balcony, lost in thought. Below, the lights glittered, and the Parisian night view was breathtakingly beautiful, like a fairyland. Her mood, however, was extremely heavy.

Calming down to think about Tang Shuwen’s words, they actually made some sense. It wasn’t just about whether the child would be loved if born. If he were born and exposed as an illegitimate child of the Tang family, and both the Tang and Zhao families were prominent families in A City, there would surely be much gossip.